Medical treatment is care given to a patient by a health professional to diagnose, treat, or prevent illness or injury. It may include surgical procedures, medicines, and physical therapy. It also includes a range of other health care services such as blood tests and examinations, counseling, and nursing or rehabilitation care. It may also be nonsurgical care such as the suturing of wounds, application of casts and braces, or the drainage of pus from an infected bruise.
Medical treatments have side effects, and these should be explained to patients. But the choice of which treatment to accept, if any, is a patient decision that depends on the individual’s values and goals. For example, a person with high blood pressure might be unwilling to take medicine that has the side effect of increasing his chance of having a heart attack or stroke in the future, even though that is the only way to significantly reduce his risk of these diseases.
Advances in medicine have made many conditions treatable, from vaccines and antibiotics for infectious illnesses to knee replacement surgery and the use of antiretroviral drugs to extend the lives of people with AIDS. However, these advances have led to a proliferation of ‘halfway technologies’ that prolong life but do not cure disease, such as dialysis and transplantation for kidney failure and stents to open blocked coronary arteries.
The underlying assumption of these therapies is that all disease is pathological, which is not always the case. For example, some diseases – such as leprosy, syringomyelia, and mental retardation – do not cause any uncomfortable sensations at all; and others – such as blindness, deafness, and total unconsciousness – are characterized by an inability to perceive discomfort.
Some doctors fall into the trap of believing that a label such as diabetes or high blood pressure automatically mandates treatment, rather than allowing the patient to decide whether or not the benefits outweigh the risks. But the fact is that the more a treatment is used, the more likely it is to produce unwanted side effects. Moreover, research studies rarely guarantee that a treatment will work as well in all patients, since we are all different.
The most important thing a doctor can do is provide information about all available treatments and what they can do for a particular condition. He can also talk to the patient about his lifestyle and his preferences and values and explain the impact that a specific treatment might have on them. Ultimately, the choice of treatment is up to the individual, although if a person cannot make the decision for himself (such as in cases of dementia or a coma), a next-of-kin or the holder of a health care power of attorney should be involved in the process. Similarly, a hospital or clinic can do research into a disease and offer the opportunity to participate in clinical trials of promising new therapies. This is a good option for people who want to be involved in developing the latest treatments.